Insider Selling: Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) COO Sells 7,913 Shares of Stock

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 7,913 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total value of $1,385,803.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,015,921.43. This represents a 40.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of WWD stock opened at $169.55 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.38. Woodward, Inc. has a 12-month low of $126.31 and a 12-month high of $188.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $167.09 and a 200-day moving average of $170.80.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.72%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Woodward

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Woodward by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,835,915 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $899,431,000 after acquiring an additional 77,654 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Woodward by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,309,000 after purchasing an additional 110,569 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 2.6% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,380,384 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $240,711,000 after purchasing an additional 34,946 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 4.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,278,502 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $219,321,000 after buying an additional 59,290 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 13.3% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 634,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $110,679,000 after buying an additional 74,734 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on WWD shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $152.00 to $187.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Woodward from $228.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 target price (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.67.

Woodward Company Profile

Woodward, Inc designs, manufactures, and services control solutions for the aerospace and industrial markets worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Aerospace and Industrial. The Aerospace segment provides fuel pumps, metering units, actuators, air valves, specialty valves, fuel nozzles, and thrust reverser actuation systems for turbine engines and nacelles, and flight deck controls, actuators, servocontrols, motors, and sensors for aircraft.